The Worse Twin
by pj0fanb0y
Summary: My name is Percy Jackson. I turn 16 in 7 days. On my birthday the world is supposed to end. Oh, and my twin brother who was supposed to save it died two days ago. Hooray. AU in which Percy is mediocre at best, but had a twin brother that is the best at everything.
1. Chapter 1

Ch 1

My brother was the best at everything. He was the star of every capture the flag game, had all the girls drooling after him, and was the lead guitarist during the campfires. I, on the other hand, am afraid of the spotlight, have a panic attack if a girl so much as looks at me, and sound like a dying cat when I sing. My brother could hit the bullseye on a target from 100 yards away every time. He could take a fight 4-on-1 and walk away unscathed without breaking a sweat. He was dating the hottest girl at camp, Rachel Elizabeth Dare. A mouthful, I know, but that's what she insists on calling herself. She was a clear-sighted mortal he found on a quest. They were the Aphrodite cabin's 'perfect couple.' For some reason the two of them always made jokes about the 'dam snack bar' or the 'dam gift shop' and laugh with each other while everybody else laughed pretending to understand the joke too. Annabeth and I are the only ones that don't laugh with everybody else. She usually because she has her nose in a book that I stole for her, while I could care less about a stupid joke he and his girlfriend make.

Let me explain about Annabeth's and I's relationship. She's been my only friend since I got to camp 4 years ago. She saved my life after my brother left me on the other side of the camp boundaries, fighting a cyclops off by herself while I got across the line. When my brother and I got claimed as twin sons of Poseidon she was the only one that didn't flock to my brother as he did flips through the creek. Annabeth is the smartest person at camp, but no one ever gives her credit because my brother gets all the glory with his sword, Anaklusmos. I'm the only one that gives her the credit she deserves. We always have each other's backs, and that's how it's always going to be.

My brother always led all the quests. He got back Zeus' master bolt, he retrieved the golden fleece, he freed Artemis from holding the sky, he destroyed the Labyrinth, and he was supposed to save the world from Kronos. He never failed a quest and everyone looked to him as a source of hope when we were in dark times. He never failed to make a joke to lighten the mood, or shoot a wicked smile when somebody needed encouraging. He was the best hero to ever walk the face of the earth. Until he wasn't.

I wasn't there myself, but I heard from Blackjack that he and Beckendorf, a Hephaestus camper, were on a mission to destroy the Princess Andromeda. Everything was going according to plan until Kronos' men captured the two of them. Luckily enough, my brother led them off while Beckendorf planted the charges so the ship still exploded. But Beckendorf and my brother didn't make it off the ship. Blackjack tried to search the wreckage but he could only do so much as a lone pegasus. My brother was the camp's only hope of survival. Now everyone is looking to me, the camp failure, to save the world.

I'm not sure I can.


	2. Chapter 2

Ch 2- Percy POV

Two days ago my brother died. I ran and hid. Just like I did when mom died. I haven't slept since I heard the news. I've been in the woods perched in a tree, trying to stifle my crying. It wasn't like I was sad my brother died. He was a complete ass. But he was the last family I had left, and now all that I can feel is empty and alone. After I was gone for a couple hours, Annabeth came to the tree I'm in and just sat next to me, not saying a word. She sat next to me silently and put her hand on mine, offering her comfort in the way only she can. For a long time we sat there, listening to the sound of the woods. The creek gurgling slowly, the birds chirping in the distance, and a hungry hellhound looking for its next meal.

It wasn't until the next morning that she spoke, "C'mon Perce, let's get back to camp. I hear they have blue pancakes this morning," looking at me hopefully.

"They have blue pancakes every morning."

"All the more reason to go back to camp," she teased, bumping my shoulder.

"I'm not leaving until you give me a good reason to leave," I said harshly.

"But-"

"No Annabeth! I'm not leaving this tree."

"FINE! While you're wallowing away in this tree, your brother's shroud was burned last night, and I had to sit all alone next to that twat girlfriend of his. Not to mention, that now that he's gone, YOU are the prophecy child." At that she softened, "there's only a week left Percy. You can't change fate." With that she was gone.

I didn't want to accept it, but I knew I was going to probably die in a week and might as well make the best of it. So I grudgingly got down and followed Annabeth back to camp.

I sat alone at my table munching on my blue pancakes, feeling everyone's eyes on me. I could hear them whispering about me, mocking me. When Clarisse from the Ares cabin stood up, I knew I was in for trouble. I watched her swagger over to me and braced myself for the worst.

"Yo Prissy, now that your big bro died, how are you going to save the world? I don't remember you being some super powerful demigod." I grit my teeth because it was true, I never learned how to use my powers like my brother. If I was lucky I could refill a water bottle when I was really thirsty. "Your brother was the powerful one Prissy, how are you going to fight Kronos when all you do is sneak and steal?"

I jumped up, slamming my fists into the table, "You know what Clarisse! I'm not my brother! I can't save you from Kronos, I can't save you from the apocalypse! That was my brother's job! I'm not a fighter Clarisse and I never will be. So why don't you find somebody else to save camp and I'll be on my way." I stormed out of the pavilion and ran back to my cabin, locking the door behind me. I pushed myself against my cabin door and slid down to a sitting position. Taking slow deep breaths, I had an idea that would save the camp.

I have to bring my brother back.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: If you see any spelling/grammar mistakes, please let me know and I'll fix 'em! Thanks for reading!

* * *

Ch 3

I packed my bags with all the necessities I thought I would need to get to the Underworld. Racing around my cabin to find all the items I needed for the trip, I didn't hear Annabeth walk into my cabin.

"What're you doing Perce" Annabeth said worriedly.

"Nothing Annabeth."

"No its not nothing," she responds quickly while walking towards the bags sitting on my bunk. "You have all your survival equipment packed."

I turned around and put on my best 'I am definitely not going to the underworld face.' "Don't worry about it… I'm uhhhhh… I just need to replace the TV," I finally stammered out. "It broke earlier."

"Uh huh."

"Yeah I was just watching something and it exploded."

"It exploded? It looks fine to me."

"Well I mean it didn't actually explode…"

"Obviously." Then she paused, "What is _actually_ going on, Perce. You've always been a terrible liar."

I thought for a second. I need somebody to watch my back in the underworld and there's no one I trust more than Annabeth. But at the same time I don't want to put her in any more danger than she is already going to be in. Although, her infinite knowledge about everything under the sun would be incredibly useful. And seeing her next to me in the underworld would be really nice…

Suddenly I was smacked in the face and I fell over onto the floor. I looked around to see Annabeth looking at down at me angrily, somehow looking cute at the same time. I almost said it aloud, but decided it wouldn't be for my best interest and said instead: "Why'd you smack me?!"

"You were staring."

"And?!"

"What did I tell you about staring?" she said motherly.

"That it's rude…" I responded solemnly, sounding more like a 5-year-old than a soon-to-be adventurer.

"Good." She said triumphantly. "Now tell me what you're going to do so I can tell you how stupid it is."

So I did. I told her my plan of going to the underworld and bringing my brother back. I hadn't really thought about it much and as I was saying it I realized how stupid the whole thing sounded. But when I looked at Annabeth she looked thoughtful, something I wasn't expecting.

"We should talk to Nico, he's a son of Hades" she suggested. Before I could object she was already tossing a drachma into the saltwater spring in the middle of my cabin. She elbowed me, saying "He owes me a favor or two so this should be easy."

When an image finally showed, I saw a young boy, maybe 13 or 14, with shaggy black hair and skin so pale it was almost translucent. He looked like he had just crawled out of a grave and wasn't happy about it at all.

"What do you want Annabeth? I'm busy here." The boy said coldly.

"Hey Nico! Um, my friend Percy here, you know Percy right? He's the twin brother of-"

"Yes I know who he is. What do you want?"

 _Wow he's a ray of sunshine isn't he,_ Percy thought. But Annabeth was already talking again, seemingly unfazed by Nico's coldness.

"Well Percy here needs to get his brother back from the dead so that he can save the camp next week against Kronos. Where is the closest entrance to the underworld?"

"Well it's in Central Park, if you start singing, you should see it easily enough."

 _Wait singing? I don't sing._ I was about to tell Nico as such, but Annabeth cut me off.

"Great! Thanks Nico!"

"You said that Percy's brother had died? I figured I would feel a demigod that powerful die…" Nico trailed off.

I butted in: "Yeah, they burned his funeral shroud last night. He died on the Princess Andromeda after he and Beckendorf blew it to shreds." I thought that Nico was acting really weird, but I put it down to not knowing the kid.

"Yeah I felt Beckendorf die… How curious…" Nico absentmindedly wandered off, lost in his own train of thought.

Annabeth tried to yell after him, but finally just ended the Iris Message.

"Alright Perce, let's get going, no time to waste," she yelled over her shoulder as she left to pack her own bags.

I grabbed my bags from my bunk and ran after Annabeth.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Please let me know if you see any spelling/grammar errors!

Ch 4

The second we stepped out of the camp boundaries I was nervous. Not my usual, I don't know how to act normal, nervous. It was like everything was this strange, dangerous world. I guess not leaving camp boundaries for 4 years does that to a guy. Annabeth was deep in her own thoughts while we waited for the cabbie to pick us up from camp so there was an awkward silence while I tried not to imagine a hellhound jumping us two feet from camp.

I spent most of the time fingering the miniature trident hanging off my camp necklace. It was the only gift I ever got from my dad. Since my brother was the be-all-to-end-all hero, he got most of the spectacular gifts from my dad, like Anaklusmos, or the superiour water powers. He gave my brother Anaklusmos the day we were claimed, and all he gave me was this stupid trident pendant.

But I still kept it because it was the only thing that reminded me of my dad, the big man of the seas. It reminded me of the times before my mom's death. It reminded me of when my brother and I could spend an entire Saturday playing video games together without him calling me stupid or useless or a waste of his time. It was the only thing connecting me to my old life, which is ironic since I only got it because I found out about my new screwed up life. I spent the rest of the time lost in my memories.

All of a sudden, I was 11 years old again and in my mom's kitchen. We had been making blue chocolate chip cookies to celebrate one of my rare good test grades. It was relatively early still, so my brother was still asleep, giving me and my mom some very rare alone time. I was straining to reach the food coloring on the top shelf and not getting near close enough.

"Honey, need some help?" questioned my mom after probably watching me struggle for a couple minutes.

"Nope. I got this," I replied. I walked out of the kitchen and came back with one of the chairs from the dining room. Setting it down in front of the cabinet, I climbed up and grabbed the food coloring. Turning around with a triumphant smile on my face, I saw my mom looking at me with a look on her face I didn't see very often.

"I can't believe you and your brother are turning 12 in a week. You two are just growing up so fast."

"Don't worry mom, we'll always be here for you… we'll always be your little boys. No matter how big and strong we get."

"I know Percy," she said quietly. "Now go get your brother up! He's slept in for long enough." I ran out of the kitchen and got my brother out of bed.

If we didn't tell you, you would never know my brother and I were twins. Where I had dark black hair and green eyes, my brother had blonde hair and blue eyes. He had 6 inches and 30 pounds on me. Being pre-teen boys, we were always getting in fights to see who was stronger or faster or smarter. He always one in the first two categories, but I always won the games of intelligence. You can bet we didn't play many of those games.

Anyways, when I walked out of the room we shared, I heard my mom scream from the kitchen. Before I knew it, I was in the kitchen watching my mom being choked out by a very angry looking seal-dog thingy. It had flippers for arms and a dog's head, making a very odd combo. Doing the natural thing for a 90 pound 12-year-old to do, I jumped onto the back of the animal's body, trying to get it off of my mom.

I almost passed out from the smell of the creature and ended up on the ground with the wind knocked out of me. Luckily though, the creature had directed its attention away from my mom and towards me. While it waddled its way over to me, I almost laughed. And I would have, if not for the lack of air in my lungs. By the time it finally got to me I was almost breathing normally. It reached out with its flipper arm things but before it could grab my neck it disappeared into a cloud of dust.

In its place stood a wicked looking knife. Behind the knife was an arguably scarier blonde girl, about my age, looking at me wildly.

"Where's your brother?" the blonde girl asked.

"Why do you want to know?" I shot back.

"I'm here to help you butthead. _So where's your brother?_ " she questioned more forcefully this time.

I was about to make another remark about why I should trust her, but while she was staring at me with her stormy grey eyes I couldn't find the courage to say anything. Luckily enough my mom and my brother appeared behind the blonde.

"Annabeth, what are you doing here?"

"I came to take the boys to camp."

"What- mom you know this girl?!" I yelled, feeling betrayed by my own mother.

"Yes, Percy," she said looking at me, but offering no explanation. Turning to Annabeth, my mom looked madder than when I had broken her priceless vase. "You said they wouldn't be taken until they were 12! That's still a week away!"

"The situation's changed, Miss Jackson. Zeus needs to see the boys now." Thunder rumbled overhead, which was odd since it was forecasted to be sunny for the next week.

"Zeus, Zeus, Zeus! It's all about Zeus? What happened this time? Somebody tell him he has grey in his beard?" My mom yelled, getting louder each time she said 'Zeus'. More thunder rumbled overhead, getting much louder than before.

Annabeth looked extremely nervous after my mom's statements. "Miss Jackson, Zeus thinks your boys stole his master bolt, and has told Hades to send his most dangerous forces after the two boys. The only safe place is at camp. Hades' minions can't get the two of them there."

My mom took a deep breath and pulled me and my brother in close. "Be safe my boys. I love you. Don't ever forget that," my mom whispered.

Tears formed in my eyes as my mom pulled away. "No. You can't let us go! We won't leave without you!" I turned to Annabeth, looking for any glimmer of hope. "She can come with us right? I don't want my mom to be eaten by monsters!"

My mom grabbed my shoulders and looked me square in the eyes. "Stay strong Percy. You've always been the more emotional one, but right now I need you to be strong for me. Go with Annabeth to camp, you'll be safe there."

"Mom, NO! I won't leave without you!"

Suddenly I was picked up from behind and carried to the front door. I heard my mom yell as I was carried off: "Don't forget I'll always love you! Promise me!"

I couldn't find the voice to tell her. But I promised myself the next time I saw her I would tell her.

I never got the chance.


End file.
